All right. SnowLucario back again, this time for Chapter 10! Hey, that rhymes.

This chapter will contain the battle of Titania. I really hope that you enjoy it. There will be a few parts that are slightly graphic, but not necessarily M-rated. If you can't stomach it, that's a "you" problem, not a "me" problem. It's also the longest chapter yet of Attack Of The Anglars, beating out the previous one by a couple hundred words. I'm hoping that you enjoy it.

I'll use another AskReddit question today, just because I didn't get any: What makes life worth living?

SnowLucario answers: There are so many things. There are my friends at school, drawing, video games, food...and FANFICTION! Seriously, I do this for sometimes 4 hours a day. I really do need a life. But I love it, and it's normally when I don't have anything better to do. Aside from that, I do gain some enjoyment from being with my family, although we can annoy each other to death. But school, food, the treadmill, and fanfiction is basically my life right now. And it's not a semi-charmed life. It's a fully charmed life.

COLE'S POV

The landing gear came down, and the Great Fox slowly approached the ground. As we had been told, the ship was touching down about two kilometers from the base, reason being that we didn't want it to be seen. If we were stuck on Titania, we were going to dehydrate and die within a few days to a week. It wasn't a sustainable environment, not by a long shot.

The instant we stepped out of the ship, we felt the warm air on our skin. It was probably only about seventy-five degrees, and it was also dry heat, so it wasn't nearly as bad as it might have been. However, I tried to breathe out of my nose, rather than my mouth, as much as possible.

This was because the gusts of wind scorched my throat and were very unpleasant. I knew that this wasn't going to be fun. Unfortunately, we had no choice. We had to take Titania if we were going to take Bolse, and then take the other planets on the list. Then, and only then, could we take the fight to the Venomian forces.

"We're going to be using the Landmaster" said Falco. "It's too dangerous in the air, and this is the best way to get there. It'll take about fifteen minutes to get to the base from here, since it's so sandy. Jack's going to drive it, because he's used to tanks. Ian, Cole, you guys get in with him. The rest of us, we'll follow on foot. Are you guys cool with that?"

After Lucas, Willow, Konstantin, and Dr. Howler nodded their assent to this idea, I climbed into the tank. It was really quite a tight fit, with three small seats like those on an airplane, except not too much legroom. I was just glad that Lucas wasn't in there with us, because then it would have been very uncomfortable for him.

Jack was tall, yes, but his legs were not quite as long as Lucas's. He was able to control the tank as we slowly approached the base.

Looking out through the windows of the Landmaster, I could see that battle was all around us. Enemy robots were manning cannons, and I could see that there were some shells on the ground. Falco and the others would have to be very careful to step around all of them. If they stepped on one of those shells, they would be blown sky-high and probably get killed or grievously injured. As for the tank, it could handle a little more, but they would still be set off by the weight. We had to be very careful not to heart Lucas or anyone else there.

As Dr. Howler sidestepped some lasers, the group of five just barely avoided setting off an anti-personnel mine. They weren't holding hands. Instead, they were walking single-file, slowly making their way through the desert so as to keep up with us. I was starting to think that Falco's estimate of taking 15 minutes to reach the base was way too optimistic. If we were lucky, we might be there in half an hour, assuming we didn't die first.

"We're getting close to a river" Ian said.

Looking out the window, I noticed that he was right. A river that was colored brown, probably only because of all the sand and silt that it reflected, lay in front of us by about a quarter of a mile. It seemed to be about thirty yards wide, but there was no way that we would be able to cross it in the tank.

"Let's leave the landmaster here and go on foot" Jack said.

"We're going to swim across?" I asked.

"Yes. You don't mind getting a little wet, do you? That's the only way we can get to the base from here".

"I'm willing to do it" Ian said.

"You're outvoted, Cole" Jack said.

"I never said I was against swimming across the river! If you two do it, I'll do it as well. Let's go".

The others seemed surprised to see us step out of the tank. They probably expected us to attempt the crossing in the Landmaster, as stupid as that might be.

"We're all going to swim across?" Dr. Howler asked.

"Yeah" Jack said. "Be careful not to get your blasters wet, or else they might not work as well as we need them to. Also, the water is-".

Lucas stepped in first, then immediately jumped out, rubbing his leg.

"-very hot" Jack finished. "The rivers on Titania run at a temperature of 125 degrees Fahrenheit, which is dangerously high. However, it wouldn't be any better in the Landmaster, we'd just sink to the bottom".

"Wait...how deep is it?" Willow asked.

"Best not to find out, I would imagine" said Konstantin.

"That's true. But let's just get across. I'm sorry that I don't have anything to deal with burns right here, so it's best that we just try to keep as much of our bodies out of the water as possible. It's going to be more beneficial if we do that. Definitely avoid getting your face wet here". That was Dr. Howler talking.

Encouraged by her words, I waded into the river. The water was very hot, just like I had been told. It was a lot warmer than a hot tub, and it was the type of heat that caused pain all up your body. It wasn't a good feeling. But we kept on wading through, and, eventually, swimming.

If there was one good thing about the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, we had been taught Aquatics well there. We were able to swim across while holding our blasters above out heads so that they didn't get wet. We knew that we needed them for the actual battle, so it was best not to let the hot water ruin them.

After what felt like an eternity, we reached the other side. My fight suit, I had been told, was waterproof, so I didn't have to worry about it being ruined by the river. Everyone else seemed fine as well, so I felt a rush of pride.

We'd made it across. Now, the base was just half a mile ahead of us. We were going to make it there!

"Are you guys ready to take this fortress?" Falco asked. "It's going to be difficult, but very rewarding. When we take Titania, that's one step closer to winning this war".

"Let's do it!" Dr. Howler said.

I was a little nervous for this battle. It had been only eight days since Lucas had been shot by Wolf O'Donnell. If he was here, then Lucas would surely want some revenge on the lupine.

But would revenge come before reason? We couldn't afford to let it.

LUCAS'S POV

It was easy to figure out the point where we should start our efforts to take the fortress. The hangar was wide open, and there were six personal spacecraft in there that no doubt belonged to the Venomian army. If we could neutralize them, so much the better for us.

"Do you want to destroy those ships?" I asked. "That'd be a good idea!"

"Sure" Cole said.

Once we got into the hangar, we started kicking at the planes until our toes hurt. I didn't know if this was the most efficient way to disable their Arwings, or whatever these ships were called, but it was working.

Eventually, the paint finishers were starting to look a little cracked, until Cole gave us the idea to continue waling on them with our blasters. This helped to make it so that the inner workings of the ships were visible. I was starting to worry that we might get an electric shock when some enemies came into the room.

It was much like the situation that had happened last month at the GCFA. There had been the whole attack by the Anglars, which had resulted in me getting bitten by one of them. I'd been injected with the proper antidote immediately, but the scar on my leg was still there, after all these weeks.

More importantly, that situation had been the catalyst for Konstantin getting arrested and condemned. And so it goes.

"GET THEM" one of the aliens ordered. The Anglars next to him (or maybe it was a her) pulled out blasters and tried to shoot us.

I ducked behind one of the broken ships and fired at it. I wasn't the greatest shot, and it showed. My laser missed by a mile.

"Let me handle them!" Falco said.

Falco, on the other hand, didn't have nearly as difficult of a time as I did. It was clear that he had had far more training than myself, and he managed to get one of the aliens in the stomach. I was just watching him helplessly, hoping that none of the aliens would be able to suss me out of my little hiding spot.

There were more aliens coming in, and this time I decided to fire at will. It wasn't like I had anything to lose at this point. Falco was also using one of the mangled ships for cover, so I wasn't running any risk of hitting him on accident. That just wasn't going to happen.

"Are you ready to head inside the base?" Falco asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be!" Cole said. "It's time to take it to them!"

We headed inside the door and into a different world entirely.

For one, the environment inside the base looked a lot more sterile. It looked a lot more like a hallway in a high school or hospital, not like a stereotypical military stronghold. The floor was made of white tiles with black rectangles in the middle, and there were plenty of windows, through which you could see the Titanian desert, including the scalding river that we had just crossed in order to get here.

As we began to run down the hallway, I was taking full advantage of my long stride once again. Due to having such long legs, I'm a very fast walker, and I was really appreciating this for the first time since being shot. It was very liberating, but it would have been even better had we not been in the middle of a battle for the Titania base.

We saw some more aliens, and we blasted them whenever we needed to. For the most part, however, it wasn't too big of a deal. Things were going pretty well so far, it was just a question of if and when we did run into a swarm that was too great for us to handle. I feared that it would only be a matter of time.

When we turned a corner, we saw something that we hadn't been expecting. Indeed, it was someone I hadn't been expecting.

A brown vulpine was shooting his blaster at the aliens in front of him. He gave no indication that we were there, until he turned around when he had the chance.

"Hey, guys!" Fox McCloud said to us.

It was pretty great to see Fox again. He was mostly traveling around the Lylat System, helping the army wherever he could. The last time I saw him had been in the hospital wing of the GCFA, when I'd been recovering from severe hypothermia. He'd left after that, presumably to take part in another combat mission.

"Nice to see you, buddy!" Falco said, giving Fox a pat on the back for shooting down some of our enemies.

"I know" Fox said. "How's the war been going?"

I could tell that they were about to reminisce about some of the things that had happened over the last several weeks. I was about to tell them that we had more important things to worry about at the moment, but Dr. Howler beat me to it.

"We can catch up later. Right now, we really need to get through the enemy forces. It's nine of us against probably hundreds".

They looked back at the Bengal tiger, who pointed with her blaster that we should make a left. This would take us out of the hallway that we were currently in and into a place where we couldn't see the window.

"Let's go in there!" she said.

We came in after her. Since she was the physician here, I didn't think that it was too strategically wise to have her be our meat shield. Even though she was a tiger, she was skinnier than anyone present except for Ian and maybe Willow. She wouldn't be able to block most of the lasers.

I decided not to worry about that. We had a lot more to be concerned about.

The hallway we had turned into was black with teal lights on the walls. It looked quite creepy, but also a bit...comfortable, in a way.

Anything that reminded me of my parents was unwelcome now, especially in a situation like this, but I remembered that time that my mother had taken me to the New England Aquarium on one of our vacations. It was a stopping point on the way to our summer house on Cape Cod.

The lighting there looked just like this. It didn't particularly smell like an aquarium, though. Not like chlorine. I wasn't particularly sure about the vibes I got from this place, but it definitely felt somewhat scientific in a way.

Jack was also present. He'd mostly hung back, which was a good thing. However many of the rest of us were killed or injured in this battle, Jack was the most important member to keep alive, except for maybe the doctor. He was the one who was going to upgrade our weapons.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Ian began.

He didn't need to finish the sentence. Indeed, he hadn't even needed to say it out loud. None of us felt good about what we were going to be seeing on the other side of this hallway.

It sloped upwards quite quickly, and it felt kind of like that room in the Chancellor In Peril level in LEGO Star Wars. On the other side of that hallway, there's a room with a dark pit and shower heads that dispense poisonous gas. If what was on the other side of this room was half as dangerous, Ian's thoughts were mine exactly.

We reached the top of the hallway, and then we saw the full scene.

The room was about the size of a baseball field, with a circular platform in the middle. This circular platform was blue with plenty of orange lines going from a hole in the middle to the edges. The whole circular platform probably took up roughly the area of the diamond consisting of the bases.

We were on a catwalk on the edge of the room that ringed the whole area. It was only about three feet wide, so there was a certain degree of vertigo that was inherent. There were four staircases, much like spokes on a wheel, that were attached to the catwalk. The pit went down I didn't know how far. There was no way that anyone could survive a fall down there.

On the circular platform, there seemed to be a meeting of some sort. Then, I realized the truth.

There was one human, surrounded by aliens. The aliens looked to be about to push the man into the hole in the middle.

Before I could do anything to stop it, Jack came running down the catwalk. I tried to persuade him not to interfere, that it would make no difference, but he wasn't going to listen to me.

"This is wrong, Enfield. I'm going to stop this no matter what, and nothing you say is going to change my mind about it".

At that point, I could tell that he was committed. Jack was bound and determined to save this man.

I could have pointed out any number of things, of course. We knew nothing about this man. Maybe he had done something terribly wrong and was now being punished for it. Then again, whatever the Anglars considered wrong would probably be something we considered right.

You just can't win, I thought.

JACK'S POV

I ran down the catwalk, making sure not to lose my balance. It was definitely more than a hundred feet that this hole went down, maybe even to the center of Titania. It wasn't a place I wanted to end up, that was for sure.

It wasn't rational, what I was doing. On some level, I was aware of this. It was a more human instinct that most people seem to have that motivated me to stop this man's execution.

Why he was being pushed into the middle hole was anyone's guess. Maybe it had to do with the probable claustrophobia factor. The hole was only two feet wide, and this man wasn't too thin. He'd have to be very careful not to let his arms bounce all over the walls, which would likely make his demise even more painful than it needed to be.

I shoved the guards away, but it didn't do anything. Really, why in the world had I thought it would?

All it served to do was get the guards angrier. They immediately pushed the man into the hole, and he fell, screaming, until I heard a splashing sound. A black liquid splashed up and some got on me. I had a feeling that I knew what it was, as it was very hot on my clothes.

Luckily, the hot tar did not burn through my shirt, which was good. However, there was no question in my mind that whoever had just been pushed into the tar pit was dead. Or, at least, dying right now, in which case there was no way to stop it. It really had all been for nothing.

The aliens who had pushed the man into the tar pit were now on to me, but I managed to get ahold of the one who had pushed that other man in there. With him fighting tooth and nail to get out of my grasp (he must have weighed two hundred pounds, not easy for someone my age), I pushed him.

It took a lot of my strength, but he toppled into the hole. I could tell that he was trying desperately to save himself, but to no avail. I had to step back to avoid getting hit by the black liquid. If it actually touched my skin, it would hurt a lot.

"That's it!" one of the Anglars ordered. He charged at me, but I managed to hold him off with my blaster. One shot to the stomach, and he fell backwards. He didn't fall into the pit, but he came pretty damn close. And I'd achieved my goal of putting this one out of commission.

As it turned out, however, the one I had just shot had only been serving as a distraction from the real threat. For there had apparently been an Anglar behind me, and, as I was congratulating myself on this small victory, I felt myself get hit in the back of the head by what must have been a pistol.

I keeled over and thought no more.

The next thing I knew, my head was hurting like hell. I'd been pistol-whipped any number of times in the First Lylat War, so I was no stranger to headaches. However, this one was pretty bad, even with my prior experience with them.

To make matters worse, I felt like I was in chains or something. I knew that my every movement felt constricted, like there was something holding me there.

But it felt like there was a knife between my eyes, and it was very difficult to open my eyes in order to see if I was really restrained or if it was just my imagination.

Eventually, I managed to force them ajar. And I found that I was, indeed, in chains.

I was chained to a wall, my feet about two feet above the floor. My arms were also chained to the wall, so there was no lying down. It would have been impossible to sit down, since the wall was only three inches behind me.

It was pretty uncomfortable, to say the least.

About a minute after regaining consciousness, I saw an Anglar walk into the room.

He was very obviously the leader of the group. He was larger than the others, with brown skin and yellow eyes, along with the fish mouth that was common to all Anglars. He wore an ornate cape, with a maroon robe with golden yellow trim all around it. He looked at me with a menacing expression, and his eyes looked slightly crazy.

But he was mad, and it showed. "Please explain what happened".

I laughed snidely. "I've been unconscious for...I don't know how long. You tell me what's going on".

"You're under arrest for killing one of our own. Executioner Grings was pushed into our tar pit by you".

"His name's Grings?" I asked.

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter. I am the Anglar Emperor, and you are going to be brought to the courtroom to stand trial in just a few hours. Not only did you kill one of us, you're suspected of aiding Star Enfield, ruled as a terrorist organization".

With that, the self-proclaimed Anglar Emperor left the room, leaving me alone to ponder some things.

If they considered Star Enfield to be a terrorist organization, that was not good news for us. Granted, they probably already did, given that we stood in opposition to the Anglars, so I guess that should have been common sense.

I really did hope someone came for me. At the same time, make no mistake that it was very humiliating for me, as a former military guy, to be chained up like this by an enemy, when I obviously should have been far better at my job.

I was pretty sure that, if Lucas, Falco, and the others didn't get to me soon, I was going to be executed in the exact same way I'd killed Executioner Grings: By being pushed into that pit of hot tar.

That was not an outcome that I wanted, and so the only way I was going to avoid that was to be rescued. As to how they were going to get me out of these chains...we could cross that bridge when we came to it.

LUCAS'S POV

It had all happened so fast. If Jack hadn't been so determined to help that man who the Anglars were holding captive, they would not have captured Jack himself. That was just so stupid of him that I needed a third hand to facepalm.

He was taken away right in front of our eyes. I was at least glad that we hadn't seen him get dropped in that hot tar pit, or whatever that seemed to be, but that didn't change the fact that it was very possible that his fate might be even worse.

"I can't believe he did that!" Willow said.

"I know" Dr. Howler replied. "But we've got to be productive, guys. We have to continue taking this base. If we can find out where Jack is being taken, so much the better. But right now, I think it's important to do what we came here to do".

"I agree" Falco said. "Come on, guys. The other aliens are leaving the room, so we have our chance. Let's get closer to the center of the base, and maybe rescue Jack in the process".

I could see that Falco was right. Soon, there were no more Anglars on the central platform, all of them having left the room for the hallway on the other side of the tar pit.

We ran down the catwalk and across the circular platform in the middle of the baseball field-sized room. Then, we went through the door.

For better or worse, we were back in the normal types of hallways.

Fox McCloud was still with us as well. But, like Dr. Howler had said, we didn't really have much time to catch up. As much as Fox and Falco might have liked to talk to each otehr about what had happened over the last month, it just wasn't going to happen. There was too much to get done.

We continued jogging down the hallway. Whenever we saw aliens, either Falco, Fox, or Konstantin would shoot them with their blasters. I didn't know where Konstantin had gotten such great aim, but I decided not to ask him. There were more important things going on right now.

Such as, the fact that there were ten Anglars right in front of us.

Ian, instead of shooting the Anglar with his blaster first, punched it in the face. While this might have been a little questionable in terms of a strategy to kill it, Ian really was pretty good at this. The alien was stunned, and this allowed Cole to finish it off from twenty feet away.

"Nice haymaker, Ian!" Willow complimented him.

"Thanks, Willow!" he said, continuing onto the next aliens.

We continued to plow through the aliens, making good time on our way to the center of the base. We did see plenty more of the bad guys, but they posed no real threat. Dr. Howler had warned us that she didn't have any of the antidote, so it would be best if we didn't get bitten by any of them. She was okay with Ian punching them, though. Apparently, the poison could not be transmitted through the skin, only by an actual bite.

Eventually, we came into a room that was completely clear of the aliens. When we reached it, we saw that it looked kind of like the lobby of a hotel, except without the normal chairs or rug or breakfast buffet.

Fox and Falco ran over to what appeared to be some kind of map on the far wall. I could tell that it was a map, because it had a compass rose on it, and there seemed to be various rooms and hallways on it. The base looked even more complicated than I had thought at first. How were we going to find Jack in the middle of all this?

"He's up the hallway, to the left, and up three flights of stairs. Then, there'll be another map on that floor. I know this place, I've seen it before". That was Fox talking.

"You've been here before?" Willow asked the vulpine.

"Yeah. We've been scouting out the base for months, looking for a place to attack. So far, no dice. We're the ones who are going to end this, one way or another" he said.

We ran up the hallway until we came to a fork in the path. We turned left, trying to shoot down any Anglars that we came into contact with. However, there weren't any, which made me feel a little uneasy. Perhaps they would all be there to wage one huge attack on us when we finally got to where Jack was being held.

After the three flights of stairs Fox had mentioned, we came to another map. This time, Falco ran over to it.

"We're going to keep going up. This is the fourth level, and we're trying to get to the seventh level. Then, we'll be able to follow the map on that floor to find Jack. Then, we can kick some alien ass".

I knew that was not going to be easy. No doubt, there were going to be a lot more enemies up there.

Surprisingly, the seventh floor was not nearly as well-guarded as we might have thought it should have been. In fact, there was only a group of five Anglars there, playing a game of poker. At the same time, the song "99 Luftballons" was playing. An odd choice of song for a poker game, but to each his own, I guess.

One of the aliens dropped a couple of chips on the table. As he did so, his blood ended up all over the table.

Dr. Howler had gotten in a good shot on his back, and the alien had slumped over his hand (if you must know, it was a full house). The other aliens stood up from their game, splattered with the blood of their fellow comrade.

They all pointed their blasters at Dr. Howler. Of course this was what happened, in accordance with Murphy's law. If Dr. Howler got shot, there would be no one else to take care of anyone else injured. We were past Fichina now. We'd have to wait until we got back to the med bay in the Great Fox to heal any wounds. And, if someone got shot with a laser like I had, it was highly unlikely they would make it back to the ship.

We all shot the aliens, trying to make sure that none of them hit the Bengal tiger. For her part, Dr. Howler was dodging the lasers pretty well also. One just barely singed off a small spot of her fur, but other than that she was fine.

Finally, we had managed to defeat all of the aliens that were present in the room.

"We beat them all!" Falco said. "Now, let's get to where Jack is being held".

"Are you sure about where he is, Falco?" Dr. Howler asked him.

"As sure as I am that my name's Falco Lombardi!"

On the avian's cue, both Falco and Fox pulled out their blasters and shot at the chains that were covering a large, ornate door. Once the chains had been shot, they unraveled, and the door was now able to be opened.

"Let's do this!" I said.

We stepped through the door and ended up in a very dark room.

I mean, this place was almost pitch-black, except for the fact that you could see catwalks lined with yellow lights, with only very narrow railings, so that if you were my height, you might accidentally fall off if you were really careless.

"I think we can get to him!" Fox said.

"I'm up here!" said a gruff voice that we all recognized, despite only having known the person it belonged to for two days.

"We're coming for you, Jack!" Ian yelled up.

It was a little hard to figure out the way to where Jack was chained to the wall. The whole room was a maze of ladders, staircases, and catwalks that, combined with the dark atmosphere in the room, made it difficult to see where we were heading.

Eventually, we did come to where we were facing Jack. He didn't look too much worse for the fact that he was being held prisoner here. His clothes were not in tatters by any means, and he still had a smile on his face, something that you wouldn't expect on the face of any military guy. Like, ever.

"Can you get me down?" he asked.

Fox immediately got to work on the chains. Seeing how complicated they were, he simply pulled out his blaster and shot them. Jack collapsed to the ground, freed.

"Thanks, Fox! I thought they had me. I was literally going to be executed if you didn't save me" he said, patting his neck as if to make sure it was still there.

"I can relate to that" Konstantin said, not looking happy.

"This is no time to celebrate" Falco said. "Now, it's time to get to the control room. There, we can shut down this base for good".

"I know where the control room is" Fox responded.

"You do?" I asked. Why hadn't Fox told us this before?

"Yep. Just follow me, and it's that simple to take Titania".

Fox led us down another hallway once we were done in the dark room with all of the catwalks. Then, he turned right, leaving us to follow him until he led us up a couple more staircases.

"Once we reach the control room, it's just a matter of entering the right code, and then the whole base starts to shut down. It takes just ten minutes for it to explode, so once I've punched in the code, run. You don't want it to end up like last time I saw Lucas".

I knew what Fox meant. "Thanks for reminding me" I said.

We entered a room with what looked like thousands of multicolored buttons in it. All sorts of gauges and gadgets were attached to the walls, and there was no way to tell what any of them did. At least, not for a neophyte like me.

"Here's where I'm going to put in the code" Fox said, pointing to what looked like a calculator on the side of the wall. "It's 58227, and I'm doing it right now. Like I said, you'll want to get out as quickly as possible after I've done it. The base is going to explode, and it's not like the movies. You're going to get killed".

Fox punched in the code in the proper space. The whole time, I'm kind of ashamed to say, I was mesmerized by the immense array of buttons on the walls.

"Okay, we're good. Now, let's get out of here!"

We ran out of the room and down the stairs. It was a little difficult at first to figure out the way, but Fox seemed to have burned it into his brain. Which was a good thing, because we were all pretty much counting on Fox to help keep us safe. That was just the way things were going.

I wasn't too worried that we weren't going to make the time, however. Fox had definitely provided us with ample time to get out of the base. Ten minutes was more than enough.

Even once we had gotten out of the front door, we continued high-tailing it away, back towards the Great Fox. Somehow, Jack was still able to run even though he'd just been chained to the wall. I was going to have to remember to ask him about that later.

After once again crossing the boiling river, we made it back to the Great Fox. Cole, Ian, and Falco drove the Landmaster back to the ship.

Somewhere around here, the base exploded, causing a sound that sent a shockwave and nearly caused me to faint. Being on the autism spectrum can really make a person more susceptible to loud noises, and that is me to an extent. However, I've gotten better with that over the years.

Fox couldn't stay with us. He was needed in other places around the Lylat System, which seemed to be pretty much becoming a usual thing.

"I'm sorry, guys, but I kind of need to help with the war effort in other places. I want to thank each of you individually, just in case I never see you guys again.

"Falco Lombardi. You've always been one of my best friends ever since elementary school. I've been honored to fight by your side, in both the First Lylat War and this one. Sometime, let's meet in a Cornerian pub and celebrate our victory over drinks".

"Not until we win!" Falco said, chuckling.

"That's right. Not until we win" Fox replied.

Fox then said, "Tigre Howler. If it wasn't for you, Lucas and I wouldn't even be alive right now. I'm glad that you have helped us so far, and that you will continue to do so is my wish. Because I really do feel that you have a role to play in this war".

"And that role is medic" Jack said.

I mostly skipped over the rest of it, as self-centered as that seems. I'm generally not one to pay too much attention to things that I'm not interested in, and this was no exception. I waited until he got to my girlfriend before I tuned back in.

"Willow Foster. You were a big help with destroying the Anglars during this battle, and I'm glad to have had you with us. I think this is a good part to get into...". He looked at me, and I knew that I was going to be the next and final person he addressed.

"Lucas Enfield. It feels like it's been ages since I last saw you. The last time, I seem to remember, we were in a 7-foot sphere of ice, awaiting death".

"You never told me that story" Jack said.

"I'll tell you a little later" I told the weapons expert.

"In any case", Fox said, "I think that you are definitely achieving greatness, much like I told you back then. I mean, you're the de facto leader of the team, considering that our enemies seem to be calling it Star Enfield. There's still a long way to go, but we're going to be good friends for quite a while once all this is said and done, I'm sure".

Fox patted me on the back as he walked over to his Arwing. Then, he took off, leaving a trail of dust through the orange sky.

Once we got back on the ship, Jack had to get to what he had promised to do when joining the team. That was upgrading our Arwings.

We went into the hangar, which was of course where our Arwings were being kept. We hadn't had to use any of them over the course of the battle of Titania, and I was very grateful for that. Now, though, Jack was helping to prepare us for when we did need to use them.

"I'm going to use some of the rock that I collected to put into the laser area. These lasers will not move any faster than they were before, due to lasers already moving at the speed of light. However, we are going to make them more powerful. The blue lasers are more powerful than the green ones, but the purple ones are the strongest of all, and I want to make sure that you guys get to use them".

"How did you learn how to upgrade weapons so well?" Willow asked Jack.

Jack rubbed his neck. "I used to be stationed in the Bosnian War when I was a young man. That was where we learned. In a war zone, you kind of have to learn fast".

I understood that well enough. And Jack certainly did seem to be good at his job, although I suppose that I should have reserved judgment until after we had already seen what he could do for us.

"So...what's the story, Lucas?" he asked me.

I began by telling him about my normal middle-class life in a small Maine town, and how I'd gone to a Christmas ball with Willow on the night we were captured. We'd been conscripted into being students at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, and I'd gone on a mission (which I still suspected was what Jack was asking me about).

Eventually, the Anglar forces had attacked the school, and we simply weren't safe there anymore. And so, we'd fled to their alternate location in the mountains. Since they needed someone to blame, and Konstantin, being known for very strongly disliking Corneria, fell right in the firing line, the Texan had been locked up. A few days later, he'd been tried and sentenced to execution, but we managed to free him in the middle of the night before his scheduled date to appear in front of the firing squad.

We'd been on Fichina for quite a while before I was shot in the leg with a laser. After recovering from my operation, it was determined that we, once again, simply weren't safe on the ice planet anymore. And so we'd packed up again and gotten to Sector X, from which we managed to find him in Cartagena.

"And that's where we are now" I finished.

"That's all well and good, but you didn't tell me the story about the ice" he said.

I was a little reluctant to relive that experience. It hadn't been pleasant. But I gave him the short version anyway.

"During the mission to defuse the bomb, it went off, creating an enormous avalanche. Fox and I were buried under the snow and were there until they came back the next morning with specialist equipment. I was unconscious for something like 18 hours, but that's not important".

"How did they manage to wake you up? You must be pretty cold-blooded!" Jack said, seeming shocked that I was standing before it.

"Well, they warmed my blood right up" I said, trying for a joke.

"In any case", Jack said, "I'm going to upgrade the engines of the Arwings so that they can fly about 25% faster. This is going to be pretty valuable, I think".

"That sounds good" I said. "Let's go to lunch with the others. I'm sure that we'll have some interesting strategy discussions".

The mood at the table was jubilant. After all, we'd just won our first major battle, and there would hopefully be many more.

"There you are, Lucas" Falco said. "We were just discussing what we're going to do next".

"We're setting course for Bolse" Dr. Howler said. "We should get there tomorrow, most likely. I'm sorry to say that it looks like tomorrow is going to be another battle day".

My heart sunk. I was hoping that we would get to have some time to peacefully hang out on the Great Fox. I wanted to have more time with Willow Foster before we had another battle. Even one more day would have been nice.

Instead, we were going straight to Bolse. Where, I didn't want to mention, there was a good chance that we might just die. The satellite was likely to be well defended, considering that it itself was the defense satellite for Venom.

"So from Bolse, we've still got Zoness, Sector Z, and Macbeth to take, then Area 6" I said. It sure seemed like a colossal task to accomplish.

"It's far from impossible, Lucas" Jack said. "I'm going to give you guys the weapons capabilities that you need in order to succeed in this war. We're going to win it, one way or another".

But it was hard for me to see how. It was a long way upwards, perhaps several days even, from Bolse to Zoness, and then we'd have to take Sector Z before going into Macbeth. It wasn't going to be the easiest task.

And then there'd still be the final battle on Venom, which would go on for who knew how long against who knew how many enemies. Really, it might be a hundred times crazier and more massive than the battle of Titania had been.

"It's February 24 now" Konstantin said. "We escaped on February 2. What are the odds that the manhunt for me is still on?"

Falco looked over at the Texan. "Not unlikely in the slightest, considering that three weeks really isn't too long of a time considering everything. But I think I know what you're asking, and the answer is: Maybe if we win".

Nobody needed for Falco to elaborate. We all knew what he was talking about. There was ample evidence that Konstantin had not ordered the attack on the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, and he just might be pardoned if we came back to Corneria having won the war. That was really the best that we could hope for given the situation. And that still depended on there being a Corneria to come back to.

"Let's make sure we do".

Later that night, well after dinner, I was with Willow in my own bunk. We were hanging out together, having some nice conversation about the day. It was tough to have just a normal one-on-one with your girlfriend when you had just been through such a dangerous battle as the one we had just completed.

"I'm so glad we're still alive" Willow said. "And that we found Jack. Who knows what would've happened to him otherwise?"

"I'm happy about that as well" I said. But, really, my thoughts were, Jack got himself into that mess and we had to save his ass!

I didn't say that to Willow, however, because I didn't want her to think me rude. This was not like me at all; normally, I was one who liked to voice my opinions out loud. But something about being around Willow right now made me feel that I shouldn't say it.

Was Willow helping me cope with having Asperger's? It seemed like that might be the case. This girl might just be the tear in my heart.

That led to me thinking about Twenty One Pilots, and their song by the same name. Tyler Joseph, the lead singer, wrote the song about his wife, Jenna. He'd said that he wasn't going to write any love songs until he got married, and, once he did, that was what he wrote.

Eventually, Willow fell asleep in my arms. We had been cuddling together, and being in bed probably influenced it. This was probably quite a bit like how it had been in Cartagena, when we'd been in bed together.

I was going to take Willow back to her own bed, but then I realized that it probably wasn't a good idea to force someone to sleepwalk. I hoped that I wouldn't get in trouble for allowing her to sleep in my bed tonight, or that we were doing something dirty.

Instead, I got out my iPhone and went to YouTube. Within forty-five seconds, I was listening to the very same song that I'd been thinking about.

Like so many other songs by this band, the lyrics are about real life. I was really feeling that Willow was mine. I felt that things were really going well between us right now.

Literally, she'd fallen asleep in my bed. That was pretty funny. I could barely avoid myself from laughing, because I didn't want it to seem like I was mocking her in case I ended up accidentally waking her up as a result of it.

At a certain point, I succumbed to slumber myself, headphones still over my ears, and still very satisfied about the results of today's battle.

One more announcement to make: I have begun Beta Reading. I'll be fairly selective, but if you wish to acquire my services, just follow the instructions on my Beta Reader profile. I'll give you some tips.

This is not only the longest chapter so far, it is (as of now) the longest chapter in the story total. Chapter 15 may get edited to be longer, but until then this is going to be the largest chapter in Attack Of The Anglars.